LOS ANGELES – Film critics have described the new Michael Jackson biopic as a “whitewash”, with several reviewers saying it tells a “sanitised” version of his life and career. The singer’s nephew Jaafar Jackson portrays the King of Pop in Michael, which follows the star’s rise to fame with the Jackson 5 through to his hugely successful solo career. But the movie does not address the sexual abuse allegations against Jackson, after a historic non-disclosure agreement (NDA) prompted some footage referencing them to be scrapped. The Hollywood Reporter said the film “delivers for lifelong fans who cherish the music”, but the Telegraph noted that it “refuses to address the elephant in the room”. Michael is financially backed by the late superstar’s estate and uses his original vocals for the musical numbers, which dominate the film. Jaafar Jackson, the son of Jermaine Jackson, was generally praised for the portrayal of his uncle, but the film as a whole was less well received. In a two-star review the Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw said the movie is “rammed with every music-movie cliche” and plays “like a 127-minute trailer montage”. 

“This is a frustratingly shallow, inert picture, a kind of cruise-ship entertainment, which can’t quite bring itself to show that Michael was an abuse victim, brutalised by his father and robbed of his childhood,” he wrote, also noting the allegations against Jackson himself.  Oscar nominee Colman Domingo plays the singer’s father Joe Jackson in the film, which also stars Nia Long as mother Katherine Jackson, and Top Gun: Maverick star Miles Teller as entertainment lawyer John Branca. Awarding only one star, the Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey described the film as a “ghoulish, soulless cash grab”. She compared Michael to other recent music biopics, commenting that “the line between ‘cinema’ and ‘merchandise’ has come close to being obliterated”.
“All Michael does is recreate, in mechanical style, the most famous visuals of Jackson’s career,” she said. “It’s certainly easier that way. Why bother to depict a human being when you can simply turn them into a product?” The film’s release follows a string of musical biopics over the last decade, which are seen by Hollywood as reliable box office hits.  Queen, Sir Elton John, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Elvis Presley, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Marley, Amy Winehouse, Robbie Williams and Whitney Houston have all received the cinematic treatment in recent years. In another one-star review, Kevin Maher of the Times said Michael would be seen as a “watershed moment” for the music biopic genre – and not in a good way.
“It will be known as that infamous film in which the subject became completely untethered from reality and the film delivered instead two hours of pure and unadulterated [rubbish],” he said in his strongly-worded review. But, he conceded, the music scenes are “nonetheless are quite brilliant and thrilling”. The biopic is directed by Antoine Fuqua, whose previous credits include Training Day, Olympus Has Fallen and The Equalizer. Several critics highlighted the absence of any acknowledgement of the allegations that the singer sexually abused young boys. The film originally included references to the allegations, with much of the third act dedicated to a scandal involving Jordan Chandler, who was 13 at the time he accused Jackson or abusive behaviour.
But, according to Hollywood publication Variety, the footage was scrapped along with any mention of the child molestation charges due to the rediscovery of conditions that were part of a previous NDA.  Lawyers for the Jackson estate realised there was a clause in the settlement with Chandler that forbade the depiction or mention of him in any movie.
A series of reshoots took place so new material could be filmed, while a new ending was written so the movie would conclude in the late 1980s, before the first allegations were made.  A jury cleared Jackson of sexually abusing a different 13-year-old boy in 2005. Fuqua has said he does not know the truth behind the allegations, but sounded a note of scepticism about Jackson’s accusers, telling Variety that “sometimes people do some nasty things for some money”.